Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest coal miners’ union said Monday it would accept President Joe Biden’s plan to move away from coal and other fossil fuels in exchange for a “true energy transition” that includes thousands of jobs in renewable energy and spending on technology to make coal cleaner. Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said ensuring jobs for displaced miners — including 7,000 coal workers who lost their jobs last year — is crucial to any infrastructure bill taken up by Congress.

When Pennsylvania ordered coal mines closed because of the coronavirus, then reversed course and declared them to be “essential,” West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who made a fortune in coal, was quick to mock his neighbors. “Coal is so essential it is unbelievable,” said Justice, a Republican. “We have to have good electricity flowing into our homes.” The mine workers union agrees with him. So does President Trump, who has spent the past three years talking up the coal business. But in the face of the pandemic, is coal mining actually so essential? Because of the nature of the work...

A group of feminists at the University of Mary Washington is suing the college for failing “to protect them from a sexually hostile school environment” stemming from the social media app Yik Yak. The lawsuit, funded by the Feminist Majority Foundation for the group Feminists United, alleges the university and its former president, Richard Hurley, violated Title IX (which relates to offensive online posts) as well as the 14th amendment when they failed to take sufficient action to prevent offensive speech by male students at the university.

Thousands of unionized mine workers and supporters rallied at the Capitol Thursday to push for a bill that would protect health-care and pension benefits for about 120,000 former coal miners and their families. "We're here today to demand that the right thing be done!" thundered Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, which organized the rally. "Keep the promise and pass the bill." ...Separately, Democrat Hillary Clinton announced her support for the measure, which would affect retired miners and their families in all 50 states, especially West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and Alabama. ......

The economic devastation is very real in West Virginia. Obama promised to shut down the coal industry as one of his bold campaign promises in 2008. Hillary’s plan is to keep the dream of shutting down the coal industry alive long after Obama is out of office. Coal miners are taking and stand and letting America know they are not going to sit back and watch their livelihoods and towns destroyed by a radical leftist President. Watch here:

It’s no shocker that Hillary Clinton isn’t popular in West Virginia. In fact, no one from national Democratic circles, like President Obama, Nancy Pelosi etc., is popular here. Obama didn’t win a single county in the Mountain State in 2012, and the last time West Virginia went Democratic was 1996. Clinton’s remarks that she was going to put coal miners out of business did not sit well with the residents of Logan County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans. In fact, CNN was hard pressed to find really any Democrat who supported Clinton—they’re all voting for Trump.

DivestUMW sit-in spans a week [University of Mary Washington in Virginia, fossil fuel divestment] STUDENTS CONTINUING SIT-IN TO PUSH board TO DIVEST OF FOSSIL FUELS “WE’RE STILL GOING STRONG. WE’RE SUPPORTING EACH OTHER AND THE SUPPORT FROM FACULTY AND ALUMNI KEEPS US GOING.” NATE LEVINE, UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON JUNIOR Posted: Saturday, April 4, 2015 12:00 am BY LINDLEY ESTES/THE FREE LANCE-STAR University of Mary Washington junior Nate Levine was planning to spend Easter at home with his family. As a member of DivestUMW, he will instead celebrate at a sit-in protest in the first floor hallway of George Washington...

Gerardo Hernandez, a spy for Communist Cuba and the man responsible for the murder of four humanitarian workers (three of whom were American citizens) over international waters, was freed from prison last year by the Obama administration, due in part to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This was revealed at a February 6, 2015, celebration of Hernandez’s release, along with two of his fellow Cuban agents (collectively known as the “Cuban 5.. At the beginning of the event, an IPS official thanked all who who took part in the 17-year campaign and singled out a number of organizations that...

The rules put in place by the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency have dealt a severe blow to the economy of the Appalachian region. The most recent proposal could be the death knell if they are enacted. More than 500 active and retired coal miners from West Virginia and other parts of Appalachia delivered that message to Washington Tuesday. The protest is the most recent demonstration against the clean power rule which would change the rules for emissions on existing coal fired power plants in the United States. The rally, led by the United Mine Workers Union, called on the...

“Because professors, staff and students are precluded from protecting themselves on campus, Cho, a student at Virginia Tech himself, was able to simply walk on campus and go on a killing rampage with no worry that anyone would stop him.” - Holly Adams (mother of VA Tech Victim) -- IMAGE HERE -- Located in Fredericksburg Virginia and with campuses in Stafford and Dahlgren, the University of Mary Washington is undeniably part of Virginia’s strong commitment to excellent public colleges and universities. Unfortunately, UMW (which prides itself on being named after the mother of George Washington), has joined many of Virginia’s...

After giving then-Sen. Barack Obama a full-throttled endorsement in the 2008 presidential election, the United Mine Workers of America has decided not to endorse either Obama or the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, in 2012. “As of right now, we’ve elected to stay out of this election,” said Mike Caputo, a UMWA official and a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. “Our members right now have indicated to stay out of this race, and that’s why we’ve done that.... I don’t think quite frankly that coalfield folks are crazy about either candidate.” Both candidates are trying to...

From an historian's point of view, one could do worse than studying the United Mine Workers of America. It is a microcosm of the American Labor Movement. It is a startling picture of the role of individuals in the making of American history. It is the story of how a once powerful institution's leaders repeatedly sold out its members as the nation drifted from large scale industrial production of power and goods to being a producer of private and public services . Finally, not least, it is a story of breathtaking betrayal of working men by a man who used...

Top AFL-CIO union chief Richard Trumka -- President Barack Obama's guest of honor at his speech to Congress Thursday night -- urged Obama to "go to the mat" for Big Labor. Of course, Obama hasn't been shy about doing just that for the last three years. Trumka just wants more, more, more. Obama's "jobs" proposal appears to be full of it -- more special deals and bailouts for the union hierarchy. And unsurprisingly, Obama made no mention of the Boeing jobs in South Carolina the Acting General Counsel of his National Labor Relations Board is trying to destroy. Meanwhile, Big...

Watch it yourself NOW! Obama at funerals of WV miners killed in explosion last week. He obviously there only for PR.... and families know it! Women pulling back from attempted embraces. Men not shaking hands. Distain on many faces. Note to Mr. Obama. Welcome to America outside the Beltway, where we know what you really are!

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy Sunday for the 29 miners who died in a coal mine explosion earlier this month. The service, announced today by West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, will be held in Beckley, W.Va., and will include prayers, musical performances, tributes to the miners, and remarks from Mr. Manchin and other dignitaries. Vice President Joe Biden will join the president to participate in the service, according to a White House news release issued today. The service will be held at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, at 200 Armory Drive in Beckley, at 3:30 p.m....

(Listen live or get the podcast later.) Maybe interesting to see what the UMWA has to say - out in the open - about Massey. I know Liddy is fairly pro-union and said yeaterday he stood with the UMWA.

Print ShareThisWILKES-BARRE, Pa. — After a six-year run in the NFL, Greg Skrepenak came home to Pennsylvania and parlayed his name recognition and hometown popularity into a seat on the Luzerne County Board of Commissioners. He'd campaigned as a reformer. It turns out he was anything but. Prosecutors charged him last month with accepting $5,000 in gifts from a developer seeking public financing of a condominium project. He is scheduled to plead guilty on Tuesday. Another day, another fallen politician in the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania, where FBI agents and federal prosecutors have spent the past year rooting out...

One of West Virginia's U.S. senators is opposed to the landmark global warming bill that passed the House Friday, while the other has "serious concerns" about the measure.

Bill Raney considers coal golden. After all, the black rock fuels half of the nation's electrical generation. But the West Virginia Coal Association's president and others in the industry say they've received mixed messages about president-elect Barack Obama's support for coal-fired power. Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden both have said they support finding cleaner ways to burn coal. But during the campaign, Obama told a newspaper that electricity rates could soar under his energy plan, while Biden told a voter in Ohio that "we're not supporting clean coal" - though he has said the U.S. should develop clean coal...

CHARLESTON - At least one state coal industry leader said he was shocked by comments Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made earlier this year concerning his plan to aggressively charge polluters for carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. "What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there," Obama said in a Jan. 17 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that was made public today first on the Web site newsbusters.org, which calls itself "the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media...